Silo, Nobel Peace Summit: “A nonviolent world”

November 11, 2009

Silo, the founder of Universalist Humanism and the inspiration behind the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, addressed the 10th Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. His talk, “The Meaning of Peace and Nonviolence in the Present Moment,” spoke to the possibility of constructing a Universal Human Nation founded upon a culture of active nonviolence.

(BERLIN, November 11) Silo, the founder of Universalist Humanism and the inspiration behind the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, today addressed the 10th Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, which was held in Berlin in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Silo‘s talk, “The Meaning of Peace and Nonviolence in the Present Moment,” spoke to the possibility of constructing a Universal Human Nation founded upon a culture of active nonviolence. He was introduced by Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her mediation work between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.
Silo described the present situation in the world as “extremely complex,” characterized by a growing nuclear threat, a resurgent arms race, widespread poverty and the clash of cultures, and a crisis of the international financial system. In his view, these are not isolated crises, however, “but rather a picture that reveals the global failure of a system whose method of action is violence and whose central value is money.” In particular, Silo denounced the irresponsible interests of the world’s nuclear powers and the madness of violent groups with possible access to nuclear weapons, which have put the entire planet at risk of an accident or confrontation of disastrous proportions.

The way out of this crisis, he insisted, is to create global awareness of peace and disarmament. “But it is also necessary,” he went on, “to awaken a consciousness of Active Nonviolence that allows us to reject not only physical violence, but all forms of economic, racial, psychological, and gender violence.” Here he cited the importance of exemplary social actions that permit broad participation, illustrated by the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, an unprecedented social mobilization that was initiated on October 2nd and is involving one million people in 100 countries on 6 continents. “For the first time in history an event of this magnitude has been put in motion by the participants themselves,” Silo said. “The true strength of this impulse is born in the simple act of one who, out of conscience, joins a dignified cause and shares it with others.”

Silo was joined on the stage by Rafael de la Rubia, spokesperson for the World March, and together they were presented with the Summit’s own “Charter for a World Without Violence” by Corrigan Maguire. Silo promised, in the name of the Humanist Movement and its affiliated organizations, to be emissaries for the Charter and to disseminate it widely through the World March, urging world leaders to adhere to its proposals of nonviolence.

The World March will be arriving New York City on November 30th as its first stop in the US and after traveling to 40 countries. The World March will also travel to Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Red Bluff, San Diego and the US/Mexico border near Tijuana.